we get excited when it snows in portland

(an alternative title for this post is "yes, elyssa, you will need to bring your long underwear")


Corey and I went for a little walk around our neighborhood Sunday afternoon to explore our new snow world. I was surprised by how rural and out-of-the-way it looks with snow everywhere.


The titular duck pond, frozen over.


I'm glad I don't live in Minnesota.


The 'burbs.


Some brave souls sledding.


Attention, all the funemployed: the Christmas tree farm is now hiring.


I can't decide if the giant cut-out Asian Santa at the Christmas tree farm is amazing or just a tiny bit terrifying.


Lots of snow-covered groves of trees and forest in the neighborhood.


What were these? Deer prints? Paw prints of a weird-footed dog? Shoe prints of a little kid wearing a really weird shoe? A disoriented peccary?


A picturesque holly from the Aquifoliaceae family.


You are not supposed to eat the snow.


I thought the sky looked really pretty when I took this photo. It's of the onion field near our house.


Walking home on the Narnia-like pathway.


Duck pond minus the likely very surprised and perturbed ducks.


Duck pond estates.


View from the living room window.

fankstiving

View from Black Hill, mistakenly called Black Mountain by the family all these years. Note: if you can climb it in 20 minutes, it is not a mountain.


La pareja feliz


When the tide is out, it's good for fishing. We did not catch any fish. We did, however, find and eat some delicious mussels and crab claws (don't worry, Corey researched the Internet for hours to make sure that our chances of getting hauled away to jail after hauling our bounty away from the beach would be virtually nil). We boiled them in hot water with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and then dipped in hot butter. Delish. I hope this isn't turning into a food blog, but I daresay we consistently find ourselves eating some pretty amazing meals.

Although they did not catch any fish, Corey and my younger brother did however successfully have long conversations with what J might call "the shaggy man" (more on J and his conspiracy theories later, hopefully, perhaps) and what Corey not-so-affectionately called "weird Californian hippies." Despite the shagginess, Corey gave away all his remaining stinky squid bait to them.


20 pounds of non free-range, non organic, Food-4-Less love.


The famous turkey in this infamous, eponymous portrait of my sister and I:



Corey and electric carving knife vs. 20-pounds Food-4-Less steroids


Corey: 1


Seconds before I mushed it all together and greedily slurped it down, smacking my lips eagerly and wiping my fingers off on my pants.


The happy family: near centennials, Generation X, Generation Whatever-a-Mid-80's-Birth-Is-Called, and Generation World of Warcraft (behind lens) Reprezentz.



Can you spot the monarchs of Pismo beach. Hint: those brown things that look like leaves? They're not.


Damn you global warming, and your 1-2 degree changes of temperature in a specific region.


Cindy McCain's birthplace. McCain is not nearly so old as the Ancient Ones; his outer shell has not yet even calcified.



Walking among the trees and on the pier of Pismo beach.


Local wildlife.


At the IHOP, the gourmet experience of lunch with my grandparents was complete.


Classy eating is free refills.


We watched the sky this weekend and saw lots of good stuff.


Man, look at this fat seal! This guy was so fat he just kind of rolled around in the water while the restaurant workers tossed him scraps! When he didn't like what they served him, like fish skins, he would just spit it lazily out and the seagulls and pelicans would squawk over it! (The subsequent 3-way tug-of-war that ensued between 2 seagulls and a pelican was equally entertaining to watch) He was so fat he could barely open his eyes, just had them in little slits! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the piniped version of the Dude!


Man, don't you just want to be an otter and lie on your back in the water with your little feet peeking out while your little kid white-faced otters roll around and splash and play behind you? What a life.


Or how about these rock squirrels? Man, I'd like a fat belly from granola bars (from a box that say best before 2005) and peanuts.


The surf was crazy on the jetty. I'm glad we didn't go fishing there. Even if the jetty is distinctively lacking in shaggy men.


More local wildlife (blue heron).


A post-Thanksgiving family portrait.

clamming quest

Corey and I went clamming this weekend with some friends in Seaside and had (to put it quite simply) a blast. We stayed in a little duplex right by the shore. The place is owned by one of J's (Corey's co-partner in the Mushroom Guys Milwaukie Farmer's Market enterprise) friends. From the doorstep, could walk straight out and head down to the beach. Much fun was had by all.


Little clam butts. We cut these off and used them as fish bait.


Slicing and peeling.


OK, so admittedly they look pretty gross. Kinda squishy, while simultaneously vaginal and phallic. But I promise you they were scrumpdiddlyumptious.


As picturesque as they come: the razor clam, soon to be in my belly (after 3+ hours of cleaning and preparing, minus cooking and hunting time)


The sea is good to us, as exemplified by her exquisite bounty.


Egging and breading.


The final product, fried to perfection and eaten with tartar sauce. So, so worth it.


Lacterius deliciosus, or a milkcap. The Russians dry it with salt and eat it like potato chips. Contrary to the scientific name, this mushroom is actually not that delicious, and was picked more out of novelty and curiosity rather than for a culinary purpose.


We walked by the seaside. I mean, we were in a town called Seaside. So, yeah.


For fishermen, maybe? In South America you see crosses on the sides of the road everywhere, which I kind of miss in the U.S.




Both of these are Amanita mascaria. These were everywhere! The Oregon coast is really pretty ridiculous. It must be in the top 10 most fertile mushroom habitats on the planet, if not #1.


We walked down to the jetty to go fishing.


Unfortunately the waves were a little crazy and wild. The sea is a harsh mistress.


The landscape felt straight out of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" for me.


The J-dar




I was excited we could see our shadows. The weather was beautiful and sunny all weekend; we really lucked out.


The terrible trio, representing three respective generations of mushroomery.


That white-capped dome is Mt. St. Helens!


Hygrocybe conica, or witches' hat.


The sun sets around 5pm now. We went clamming at night because of the low tide, setting out between 6-7pm. The tide won't be as low for another three months.


Getting our clamming equiptment ready. Basically, you stick that tube in the sand, wiggle your hips and huff and puff while you try to push it down as far as possible, press your thumb over the little hole at the top and then use all your strength (while trying not to strain your puny back and shoulder muscles) to pull it out of the ground. The tube sucks up the sand with suction, hopefully pulling the clam up with it. It usually took two to three times to get the little buggers. They like to burrow away quickly from you in the sand. It took me a while to catch one, but I got the hang of it once I learned what to look for in the sand: to me, it looked like a small indented volcano poking out, sometimes with water spurting out.


I wore my hiking boots because I was stupid and didn't bring any other shoes with me. They got very wet and sandy and smelly.


The moon was crazy that night. Huge and yellow and cheesy.


We sucked ourselves up a dungeness crab as well, much to our surprise. We were initially terrified to see this huge lump moving under the sand after we pulled the clam out. Much to our relief, it wasn't Cthulu.


Man-on-horseback, one of the few edible mushrooms around on the coast during this time of year.


We dined like kings all weekend, climaxing with this meal: halibut wrapped in prosciutto with spinach salad with blue cheese and pear. ........... words fail me ..........


Suzy Q, chief chef. My taste buds applaud her and bow down in eternal servitude.


Did I mention that there also was fresh crab, dipped in hot butter?

And to wrap this entry up, here are the mushroom guys themselves, with J balancing a mushroom on his nose while Corey attempts to push a mushroom into J's ear. Even on a clamming quest, mushrooms still have the spotlight with this crowd.